November 09, 2007 by Duncan | permalink
Went to the IET at Savoy Place last night to listen to Roo Reynold's Mountbatten Lecture (30th in the series and still in his 20's, just, Roo is the youngest Mountbatten speaker by a good 20 years...)
Roo works for IBM as a Metaverse evangelist. He has had significant involvement in setting up IBM's second life activities. His talk focused on how virtual worlds are being used for work, play and learning and on the collaborative / social nature of those spaces as being the driver for their persistent use.
Best slide? I liked the question "will mmorpg's be the new golf?" I think the original quote comes from one of the Linden Lab guys - but the analogy was people don't play golf to get better at putting a ball in a hole it is a social activity, so is world of warcraft etc.
Also worth mentioning is a link to IBM's Global Innovation Outlook site.
July 31, 2007 by Duncan | permalink
Work has finally started on my first set of Drivers of Change cards. The theme is convergence and has been identified by many delegates in the foresight workshops as a key Driver of Change. The first step is to start talking to people to try and unpack what this driver might mean. Below is my starting point, postings in this thread over the next six months with document my conversations around this theme. All comments and inputs welcome!!
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Our interest in convergence is trying to understand how the landscape around us is changing in response to new collaborations, the merging of sciences and the combination of sectors to provide new and niche services.
New collaborations such as the links developed between Apple, Google and AT&T in the personal computing, mapping and telephony markets were critical to develop the iPhone. The combination of the different skills that each of the companies brought together has significantly advanced the products and services around mobile computing and hints at the evolution of IT into a post PC era. Other collaborations include LucasArts and ILM highlighting the increased convergence between the film and the games industry.
Similarly the collaborations made through the merging of science in areas such as biotech and genetech are creating new markets and business sectors. Biotechnology combines disciplines like genetics, molecular biology, biochemistry, embryology and cell biology, which are in turn linked to practical disciplines like chemical engineering, information technology, and robotics. Whilst there is a long history of biotech the convergence started to gather speed in the early 80's when it became possible to patent genetically modified micro organisms opening up the economic potential for biotech.
The combination of sectors also appears as companies seek to create new and niche markets catering to an increasingly mass customised economy. Health tourism is such an example where companies are providing, and people are purchasing, the ability to have medical treatment in a location other than their home area either for economic or ethical reasons. The convergence however is that such treatments are often cosmetic or not clinically required and as such are being made as a consumer transaction. The ability to stay in a nice place whilst this occurs becomes a need not a desire.
So what are the trends and how will it impact the built environment.
